Stripped

Natasha

FUQ U

Lover lover

Helloo

Jade

Hey guys!

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What Romantic Suspense Should Be!

If i'm not mistaken, this is Tori St. Claire's first novel. Impressive. There is great sex, a creepy villain and a deep seated mystery. When you dig in you know St Claire is articulate, creative, and seemingly accomplished far beyond her experience.

Natalya Trubachev is a toned lethal CIA machine who is an expert at compartmentalizing her feelings in order to accomplish her job. She has a deep love of children and family but has been a block of ice for so long that she barely recognizes the melting of her soul when her Russian lover Dmitri decides the next victim will be her estranged sister, Katarena.

Natalya is an expert undercover operative. She performs better than Meryl Streep through her disgusting relationship with the Mob boss who is responsible for several killings and trading of females using critical and sometimes lethal doses of barbiturates. Natalya brings these women under her wing while they mistakenly think she is on their side, and she sacrifices them to the wolves for her Russian counterparts to play with at their whim. Her guilt is suffocating and she has an increasingly hard time living with herself. Natalya is about to meet Brandon Moretti, and finally realize in her soul what true happiness is after being long overdue.

Brandon Moretti is a product of Witness protection gone wrong, trying to right the wrongs in his life by becoming a public servant. Posing Manager of the Gentleman's club Fantasia in Vegas, he is at the very center of the action, trying to pinpoint whom is responsible for the killing and drugging of young blonde and beautiful exotic dancers. He has lost so many in his life, family, and most recently, a close friend and coworker. One of his best dancers, Kate, reccommends a seasoned entertainer-her fraternal twin sister Natalya. No one knows the relation and are blind to it. All Brandon knows is that he has an immediate and violent reaction to her. His need to possess Natalya is so strong upon first glance that while he realizes her performing will be the best bait he has had access to so far, he cannot stomach her on stage for others to devour. As House Mother, their relationship is heated from minute one and they both struggle with their secrets, while unaware they are striving for a common goal. The fabric of their lives and families are woven together in a quilt of coincidence and circumstance, bonding them in love before they even realize it.
This book was highly erotic and sensual, but it was a great textbook suspense. My heartstrings were pulled many times. The bad guy in all this is of course a twisted sick freak which we all love in a mystery/suspense novel. He was particularly disturbing and cruel not only with his physical manifestations and dire warnings, but his emotional and psychological warfare. This guy was really off.

If I had to criticize at all, it would be that the "red herring" meant to throw us off from the real goon wasn't that convincing. I knew who the villain was relatively early, which was a little disappointing but didn't lessen the enjoyment of the novel for me. Also, I felt, as I mentioned earlier, a lot of coincidence occurred. It was necessary to tie and bond the characters together, but I felt it needed just slightly more back story to make it plausible. But this was a great book, and I urge anyone who is a fan of Roxanne St Claire (relation?), Shannon McKenna and others in that class of Grande Dames to give this one a try. You will not be

4.5 Stars: Dangerously erotic, Stripped will keep you on the edge of your seat!

Natalya Trubachev has been in Russia for the last three years, deep undercover for the C.I.A. and its top secret elite group the Black Opals. Posing as Russian mob boss, Dmitri’s, lover her mission is to take down Dmitri’s sex trade and human trafficking business. When it leads her to a Las Vegas strip club though, Natalya’s learns that her twin sister is the next victim and she must uncover the names of Dmitri’s two American contacts before the kidnapping of her sister is scheduled to take place. But when she arrives at the club Fantasia and meets its dark and sexy manager, the stakes are raised even higher. Brandon Moretti is an undercover vise cop managing Vegas’ popular strip club, Fantasia. Investigating the disappearances and murders of several strippers, he knows that he only has a short amount of time to find the killer before he strikes again and one of his girls could be next. When his alluring new house mom shows up with her sultry accent, Brandon knows that she is going to be trouble, both to his investigation and his control. But can she be involved with his case or is it just a coincidence that she has shown up right when the killer is about to strike? One thing Brandon knows for sure though, Natalya has too many secrets and he plans to strip them from her one at a time. Each are living a lie, and each is fighting an attraction that if they give in to can mean not only their deaths, but the deaths of those around them as well. Thrilling, suspenseful, exciting and HOT HOT HOT, Stripped was an immensely satisfying read start to finish! The entire story just builds and builds upon itself, setting the stage for a dark and captivating world of intrigue and sex. There were fantastic and surprising twists, nasty bad guys who when revealed made my head spin and every character was so well fleshed out that I even felt sorry for the main villain and the betrayal of his love. I absolutely loved the main characters of Brandon and Natalya, their chemistry explodes from the pages right from the beginning and they were paired masterfully together. Both of them are strong, determined and stubborn. I really enjoyed their dance of secrets play out; how they unknowingly were seeking the same end game. And the heat they generate, wow – burning passion that light up the pages often! Stripped is seriously a blistering hot suspense all around. The plot was intense and fast paced, I immediately wanted to start on the next book, but alas, I must wait until July for Lie to Me. Highly addictive, Stripped is hands-down a must read for romantic suspense and erotic romance fans this year! This one is going right on the keeper shelf!

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